The last time Man United agreed to sell a first-team player was at the beginning of the summer transfer window 10 years ago. The "Red Devils" sold defender Alexander Buttner for £4.4 million to Dynamo Moscow. There are currently about 10 more weeks left for the Old Trafford team to successfully liquidate many stars that are no longer in the plan.
This summer is the transfer period that will give the team's leadership the most headaches when too many high-paid stars have to be pushed away early to create space in the salary fund. After getting Matheus Cunha and preparing with Bryan Mbeumo, Man United still wants to have about 2 more stars this summer.
However, in the past 10 years, Man United has never been a team famous for selling players effectively. Chelsea and Manchester City have recorded 508.6 million and 435.8 million pounds in profits from player sales, respectively. Man United earned only £105.5 million in the same period, a very modest figure.
If the current financial situation is maintained, Man United will not worry too much about being fined by the Financial Justice Law. However, to be able to buy players this summer, the Manchester team needs cash to trade, something they are lacking.
Man United's cash reserves are 73.2 million pounds. By the end of March 2025, £196 million in cash had been spent on payments related to transfers. The majority of those are installments for players who have signed in previous seasons.
The club's Q3 results show that an additional £195.2 million will be paid in 2026, including Sir Jim Ratcliffe's £89 million check written this summer, even though the club did not buy any players.
Man United could borrow an additional £ 140 million based on a rotating credit limit. In theory, this money can be spent to buy players and teams without having to sell to anyone. However, CEO Omar Berrada's view is very clear, Man United must do everything to balance revenue and expenditure, not to let the imbalance lead to debt.
In return, the most likely option is to liquidate the players. If Bruno Fernandes had arrived at Al Hilal a few weeks ago, Man United could have immediately recorded 100 million Euros in transfers. If they don't sell Bruno, the team still has many other targets such as Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Jadon Sancho and Antony. The quartet have all but lost value under Ruben Amorim and are also trying to find a way out of Old Trafford.
The biggest obstacle for the 4 players above is their salary. They are receiving very good incentives at Man United and are reluctant to reduce their salary to get to the next destination. Only when he has a very big destination like Barcelona, based on Rashford's wishes, will this striker accept a salary reduction.
The loan plan has been implemented with 3/4 of the above players, but after a while, the teams that were loaned were not too interested. Antony has had the best performance at Real Betis but the current transfer value is too high compared to the ability of the La Liga team to pay. Meanwhile, Rashford has only played well at Aston Villa and Sancho has been very bad at Chelsea.
If they continue to lend, Man United will still have to work with their partners to pay the salaries of this group of players. After lending out and not playing well, when returning to Old Trafford, this group will have their transfer value reduced. Therefore, Man United must sell these 4 stars by all means before everything goes beyond control.
The summer transfer window is about to begin after FIFA closed a special transfer window before the Club World Cup. Although there are still more than 2 months left to end, right now, the battle has begun for Man United in the most fierce stage.
